Ishioka, ‘Mega Megu’ Prevail at Jewels Debut

TOKYO -- In the main event of the inaugural Jewels show Sunday at
Shinjuku Face, Saori
Ishioka and Mika Nagano
battled to a unanimous decision that ended in Ishioka’s favor.
Also, Japanese women’s MMA ace Megumi
Fujii added another quick submission to her record.

The main event featured contrasting styles as Ishioka, the 2007 All
Japan Real Fighting karate champion, was matched against the 2002
Wrestling Queens Cup top-four finisher in Nagano.

The match started with the fighters sizing up each other carefully
-- very different from the other fights on the card. After the
initial feeling-out period, Ishioka landed with kicks and Nagano
scored with right hands. Nagano shot in for a single-leg takedown,
but Ishioka sprawled and got a front headlock, which she used to
send Nagano to her back. A period of no action followed, and the
ref stood the fighters. Ishioka then took advantage of the
opportunity and landed some punches before Nagano changed levels
for a takedown at the end of the round.

In the second round, Ishioka started to find the distance for her
striking. She landed right and left leg kicks that forced Nagano to
clinch and pull guard. Nagano attempted a loose armbar, which
Ishioka used to pass straight to mount. Again after no action on
the ground, they were stood and Ishioka continued to punish Nagano
with punches and kicks. Then Nagano landed her most significant
blow of the match, a spinning backhand that landed flush. Ishioka
seemed unfazed, though, and connected with more strikes and a final
takedown into side control to secure her unanimous victory.

In what could have been the main event, superstar Megumi Fuji faced
newcomer Tomoko Morii.

Megumi, an undefeated veteran, was the obvious favorite coming into
the match. Early on, she showed why many consider her the best
female mixed martial artist in the world by landing a quick hook
followed by a straight. When Morii crouched to defend, Megumi went
for a guillotine choke and pulled guard. The choke looked deep, but
Morii defended it well.

From her guard, Megumi then went for an armbar to an omaplata. She
was close to finishing the fight with the omaplata, and right when
Morii defended that submission, Megumi switched back to the armbar,
but this time it was in deep. Morii was forced to tap at 1:05 in
the first round. With the win “Mega Megu” showed why she is one of
the best submission specialists in MMA, winning 13 of 16 (81
percent) of her matches by submission.

While not a particularly pretty win, Hiroko
used her height and strength advantage to overcome the smaller Cho
Benkei.

In the first round, Hiroko punched her way to set up a Thai clinch
and deliver knees to the body and head of Benkei. Benkei landed
right hands with success, but they were not enough to slow down the
attack of Hiroko.

The second round was more of the same with neither fighter looking
for the takedown. Hiroko continued with her game plan of clinching,
kneeing and throwing punch combinations. Toward the end of the
round, she knocked Benkei down to guarantee the unanimous
decision.

Hitomi
Akano showed why she was the Smack Girl Grappling middleweight
tournament champion in 2006 with her quick submission over veteran
Hari.
She closed the distance to clinch, then jumped to pull guard while
smoothly transitioning to an armbar that ended the fight just 38
seconds into the first round.

In what turned out to be the most exciting, energetic battle of the
night, Misaki
Takimoto got the unanimous nod over Masako
Yoshida. In the first round, both fighters came out swinging.
Takimoto started to control the furious pace of the fight with her
kicks and knees, while Yoshida tried to slow her down by pulling
guard. Takimoto landed the better shots in the second round, but
Yoshida threatened with a triangle choke before Takimoto postured
up to ensure her win.

Sachi out-rolled the smaller Kazumi Kaneko. After her takedown and
submission attempts and counters made the two fighters roll around
and around, Sachi transitioned into an armbar that Kaneko could not
reverse at 4:34 in the first.

In her pro debut, Kikuyo Ishikawa out-grappled kick boxer Sumie
Yamada. From mount she threatened with an armbar and then
transitioned to the triangle 1:00 into the first period.

Also in her pro debut, Shizuka Sugiyama scored a rear-naked choke
over veteran Harumi at 2:55 of the first round.